Summary

Our lives are conducted within a dynamic, vibrant, but often challenging context of desirable, undesirable, and even threatening life experiences. A rewarding life in the face of these experiences depends on our ability to engage and maintain a sense of personal mastery as we go through life. Psychologists have uncovered some of the key principles of mastery-infused living. This book presents many examples of some of the key distinctions among our experiences in our daily living, highlighting how our well-being is centrally based on how we engage our personal mastery beliefs and actions in navigating these varied types of life experience. Studies show that mastery can be strengthened through training. A number of mastery-enhancing treatments have been developed in research and clinical practice and are presented here in an accessible format emphasizing how they can be adopted by the individual reader. These tests consistently show positive benefits for physical and mental health. Rethinking our lives and our experiences from a personal mastery template can be a key to a more successful life.